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Battling B Corps Part Two: Eastside vs. Westside EcoChallenge

October 31, 2017 — Nate Barber

There’s many steps we can take to reduce waste and minimize our carbon footprint. To encourage new practices and change our perception of our role in the world we need to push our daily routine off the rails. We discovered even small tweaks, when recorded and translated into real world numbers, can inspire a huge difference over time.

The EcoChallenge wrap up

This Autumn, friends, B Corp Partners and competitors, Fully and Boly:Welch met on an even field—Portland, 2017. The goal? To make this world a better place to live in. The competition? With guidance provided by EcoChallenge, make small changes to our day: use less, reuse more, rethink current habits and reconsider our place in the environment and the world. Record the results, track the progress and measure our accomplishments. Then, use this data to DESTROY our westside PDX partners, and spend the remainder of the year bathing in the spoils of sweet, sweet victory.

The results? While the numbers certainly indicate a definitive spread between the winner and loser of this competition, we at Fully would like to take this opportunity to emphatically remind the world that EcoChallenge isn’t about winners and losers. With our combined efforts, everybody pulling their weight, we can all make this world a better place to live. So, everybody wins. Which is another way of saying, we won. WE WON! CONQUEST IS OURS!!!

You’re welcome.

Enjoy this enjoyable infographic of our results

What did we learn?

There’s so many steps we can take, each of us, to reduce waste, to think differently about our daily routine and how even small tweaks can make a huge difference over time. We also learned that while a good amount of these changes sound good, in practice they’re much more difficult.

I learned, for example, setting up a couple rain barrels was a much larger undertaking than I’d originally estimated. But now, I’ve got a sweet water capturing system ready to go. Looking forward to setting up a drip system to manage my gardens more efficiently (maybe next summer). I also discovered a water-saving five minute shower is easier said than done.

Reactions from team Fully

‘I remembered to do the challenges but just not to report them!’ -Karen

‘This was a great competition for an excellent cause. Thank you so much for the inspiration and all the super ideas for how we can make a difference every day. GoECO!’ -Nate

‘My first time Eco Challenging and I loved it! The daily challenges were on my mind every day, which made my to-do list that much more intentional. Plus, this is the best time of year to get outside (and walk Ben the dog). Even with a cold, walking it out still feels good. :)’ -Jen

‘Attempted to do the 5 minute shower thing again today, but in my rush I washed my hair with hand lotion instead. Probably went over my time limit scrubbing that stuff out. Pro tip: Don't confuse the Jergens for shampoo!’ Andy
—‘Is that why you smell so good?’ -Nate

‘Turns out if I do my laundry in my apartment basement (using the quarters i've been carefully hoarding) instead of trucking it over to the laundromat, not only to I reduce my driving but I also don't have an option to wash with warm water even if I want to! Cold water only! Gonna call this one a win, I guess.’ -Lauren

‘Saving water by cooking with bathwater (of course I removed the baby from the bathwater first). #lifehacks’ -Nate

‘Today I got a flat tire on the way to work. I changed the flat in less than 6 minutes. I think, with a little practice, I can get that down to thirty seconds.’ -Nate

‘Getting outside for 20 minutes a day sure is challenging when there's a river of rain headed your way from across the Pacific. But I got my kid in his rainboots for a heavy dose of puddle stomping on Friday, and put him in full hazmat-style gear on Saturday to jump in the mud and play in the wet leaves. In his mind, and therefore mine, it was probably way more fun than any sunny day outside.’- Andy

‘Good cause and so much fun to be beating Boly:Welch by so much in our competition.’ -Craig

‘Today it is raining like biblical times in PDX. That and daughter had a meltdown just before we left for her daycare. It was like trying to stuff a rabid wolverine into a bike trailer. So I drove. Bummer to miss out on not only the EcoChallenge points but also the joy of riding in the PDX autumn rain (not joking). Bonus: daughter arrived to day care NOT looking like a drowned rat. So...win!’ -Nate

‘Staying in touch is hard when I'm in the office all day. Fortunately I'm working at a Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk, the best standing desk for (and on) the planet. The bamboo for my desk was grown without pesticides or fertilizers, and no chemical dyes or stains were used in the finishing process! All in all, it's a pretty amazingly beautiful, sustainable and functional desk!’ -Andy

‘5 minute showers? More like 0 minute showers! Do I get extra points for that!?’ -Craig
—‘Really excited to sit by you at our next meeting!’ -Andy

‘? Chompin' on my kale from Sauvie Island Farms! ?’ -Analise

‘Busted bicycle up on Skyline drive. Stopped to fix it, only to find there was a jackpot of grapes right there. Would have otherwise biked right past it. Win(e)!’ -Nate

‘I tried setting up my rain barrels this last weekend. After three trips to Lowe’s it became quickly evident, this is not something I’ll be able to accomplish in one weekend. I’ll have to rebuild my gutters and do some light carpentry and landscaping and plumbing in order put a solid system together. A bonus to consider, not only will rain barrels help to conserve water (when it rains) they can also double up as potable water storage in the unfortunate event of an apocalyptic earthquake. So… win/win?’ -Nate